1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an emergency fuel chamber, and, more particularly, to an emergency fuel chamber disposed adjacent to a float chamber of a carburetor for providing fuel to an engine immediately after the normal fuel supply has been exhausted.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most emergency fuel systems for providing fuel to engines when the normal or primary fuel supply is exhausted are located remotely from the carburetor. With such systems, the fuel line extending from the normal fuel supply to the carburetor is drained of fuel before the emergency fuel reservoir is actuated or is called upon to provide fuel for the engine. Hence, there is a period of time when the engine driven fuel pump, or an electrical fuel pump, is required to be actuted by using battery power before the engine begins to run. An example of such a system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,938. The emergency fuel tank in the '938 patent is filled from the main fuel line which communicates directly with the fuel tank. The emergency fuel tank is actuated by a solenoid valve, or the like, which connects the emergency fuel tank to the regular fuel line.
With the apparatus of the '938 patent, the driver of the vehicle in which the apparatus is disposed must actuate the solenoid valve at the time that his engine stops running due to fuel starvation. The fuel starvation itself is signaled by stopping of the engine. After the emergency fuel tank is supplying fuel to the engine, there is a lag time while the engine is running, or is being cranked by battery power, while the fuel is flowing from the emergency tank to the carburetor from some type of fuel pump, either engine driven or electric. Under certain circumstances, the delay between running out of fuel and the flowing of the emergency fuel to the carburetor and thus to the engine may cause problems of varying degrees of seriousness. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an emergency fuel system in conjunction with the carburetor so that upon actuation of the emergency fuel system, the fuel is virtually immediately available to keep the engine running.
The '938 patent, described above, represents a prior art approach to emergency fuel systems. There are no known patents which disclose an emergency fuel system in conjunction with a carburetor and which may be selectively actuated to provide fuel to the carburetor. However, there are several patents which disclose fuel chambers associated with carburetors, but such fuel chambers associated with the carburetors are not for the purpose of providing emergency fuel systems. Such chambers are generally considered overflow chambers which generally communicate either with the main fuel supply or with the float chamber for providing fuel to an engine operated at a relatively steep, inclined position or attitude. Several examples of such chambers, none of which are emergency fuel chambers, are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,252,440, 2,131,036, 3,020,030, 3,256,870, and 3,825,238.
None of the above-described patents discloses a reserve fuel chamber associated with the carburetor and which may be selectively actuated to provide fuel upon the exhaustion of the normal fuel supply to provide a fuel supply to the float chamber of an engine to allow the engine to continue running. The fuel system of the present invention may be used singly by itself or in conjunction with a larger emergency fuel system, such as disclosed in the '938 patent. If the apparatus of the present invention is used in conjunction with another, remote, emergency fuel supply, the engine may be kept running while the fuel is being pumped from the emergency fuel reservoir or tank to the float chamber. If the apparatus of the present invention is so used, then, when the fuel from the emergency reservoir or tank reaches the float chamber, the filling of the float chamber will also again refill the emergency reservoir at the carburetor float chamber, and thus the emergency or reserve chamber returns to its original function as an emergency fuel supply, providing the valve between it and the float chamber is closed so as to trap the emergency fuel.